District Attorney Profile

Marc E. H. Smith (DA 1949-1961)

MARC E. H. SMITH (1906 - 1986)

Eighth Judicial District, 1949 - 1961
Republican

Greeley native Marc E.H. Smith graduated from the University of Colorado law school in 1929. He set up his practice in his home town and spent twenty-three months during World War II working in Burma and India as a member of the U.S. Army’s criminal investigation division.

Except for his years overseas, Smith served as Deputy District Attorney under Hatfield Chilson. Smith was the son of Judge Elbert C. Smith, who had been a law partner of former District Attorney James E. Garrigues.

Smith’s election to his first term coincided with Joe Sam Walker’s trial in the murder of Theresa Foster, as well as with Harry S. Truman’s upset of Thomas E. Dewey in the U.S. presidential election in 1948.

During Smith’s second election campaign, the Greeley Daily Tribune stated that he “combined youth with a long apprenticeship.” In 1955, Smith urged mandatory blood alcohol tests for drivers involved in automobile accidents.